


Four and Twenty Blackbirds

by JarvisUandDUMEtoo



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Avengers Tower, Birds, Flirting, Jealous Steve, M/M, Oblivious Tony Stark, Team Up, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-11-16 05:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18088265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JarvisUandDUMEtoo/pseuds/JarvisUandDUMEtoo
Summary: Captain Britain teams up with the Avengers to stop a series of bird attacks on New York. While the team tries to figure out what the villain's motives are, Tony wants to know why Steve is acting so weird, and Steve wants to know why Tony seems to like the other captain better.





	1. Tony's perspective

“Sir, There’s been reports of a disturbance on 19th street.” Jarvis said, interrupting the loud music. 

Tony looked up from the gauntlet he was wielding and turned off the blow torch. “Not a big fan of disturbances J, unless I’m the one making them. What have you got for me?” 

He put the torch down and walked over to one of the many holograms lighting the room in a soft blue glow. Jarvis pulled up several grainy camera feeds. 

“There appears to be a swarm of birds attempting to rob a jewelry store, Sir.” Jarvis stated dryly as videos from security cameras and panicked bystanders played on the screens. One video ended abruptly as a bird swept down and stole the guy’s camera. Tony picked up his damaged gauntlet again and laughed. 

“It's probably bad that I’m not even surprised at this point. Thieving birds? Sure, why not, makes more sense than the giant bugs from yesterday.” 

“Shall I inform the rest of the Avengers?” Jarvis inquired, and Tony nodded. 

“Yeah, I think that would be best. I’m not sure evil birds fall under NYPD’s jurisdiction. Call the team and start powering up the suit while you’re at it.” Tony closed the screens with a sweeping gesture and walked towards the back of his workshop where he kept the suit, scooping up the gauntlet he was working on along the way. 

“The suit is only at 50% of its normal functionality after your last battle with the aforementioned bugs, and repairs will take at least another six hours.” Jarvis warned, his disapproval clear. “Perhaps you should let your team take care of this one until you are restored to full functionality.” 

Tony put on the gauntlet he had been working on, and flexed his fingers, the repulsor at the center glowing a familiar blue. “Don't worry about it, I always find a way to make it work.” 

Despite his confident words, the repulsor flickered and went out. Tony banged it against the table a few times and it stayed dark. He frowned at it, but decided to let it go and put on the rest of the suit. He stepped up to the raised platform and yellow arms descended to place and tighten the interlocking metal plates.Tony continued over the sounds of machinery. “Besides, it’s not like I need to bring my A game today. I mean really, it’s just birds. Not even giant, mutated acid spitting birds. I’d ask how hard could it be if I didn’t want to jinx myself.” 

“Feeling superstitious today, Sir?” 

Tony finished putting on his armor, and gave his gauntlet one last whack on the table. It remained dark. “Well, until I have a chance to bang the dents out of this tin can I’m not going to turn down any extra luck. I’ll be back in an hour or two, don’t wait up.” 

Iron Man saluted the empty air then flew out of the tower, his foot clipping the ledge as he tried to correct for his damaged hand repulsor, before shooting off to save New York once again. 

### 

As per usual, Iron Man was the first to arrive on the scene, the others still back at the Tower racing to suit up and board the quinjet. 

“Let's get a move on guys, did I catch you napping? Get over here before I steal all the fun!” He laughed over the comms. 

“Actually you did,” muttered Hawkeye, “It was a nice nap too. I had on my comfy pants and everything. Why’d you call all of us anyway, you can’t handle a few birds?” 

Tony could hear him grabbing his gear and running in the background, the sound of the jet growing louder as he entered the hanger located in the top of Avenger’s tower. 

“I figured you’d want to catch up with some of your old friends, Birdbrain. You can perch on top of buildings and eat bread together or something.” Tony said as he surveyed the situation. What seemed like thousands of large black birds flew in and out of the broken windows of a midsize jewelry store. If there were people inside he couldn’t tell through the masses of moving feathers. He curiously swiped at a bird, and as his gauntleted hand hit it, it dissolved into smoke. He landed in the street and began trying to thin out the birds, sweeping his arms back and forth as they dissolved into mist, shooting at them with his working repulsor. It was pretty entertaining, actually, and the dissolved mist made pretty swirls, like blowing out a candle. 

Steve must have finished suiting up because took over the comms in full captain mode. “ETA about 10 minutes Iron Man. Do not engage until we get there.” 

Tony confirmed and ignored Steve to continue swiping away the birds. This wasn’t really engaging the enemy, right? He wasn't fighting, he was waving his arms around. No way Steve could blame him for that. 

Cap got back on the comms, this time light and joking, so he must have been updated by Jarvis that the birds weren’t a threat to anything except nearby buildings. 

“Anyways, What's wrong with bread? This a reference I'm not getting?” 

“You've never fed birds, Cap? I figured back in your day that was the only entertainment outside of watching paint dry.” 

“I dunno Tony, that was pretty weak. Are all your retorts this bad and I never noticed because I can't catch the references?” 

Though Tony couldn’t see him, he could tell that he was smiling. 

“Pretty much,” confirmed Black Widow. 

“Hey give me a break, I'm a little busy here.” As soon as he said it Tony winced and tried to backtrack. “Busy… monitoring the situation. From a safe distance. Because I am totally waiting for you guys.” 

There was a silence over the comms then Cap said, “You're fighting the birds, aren't you,” in a resigned tone. 

And Tony did what he always did when he didn't know what to say, which was to start rambling in hopes that something that came out of his mouth would fix things, while Clint snickered in the background. 

“Not really fighting per se,” Tony insisted, “They're dissolving on their own with minimal effort from me. I'm doing research. Important recon. Ground breaking science. Nothing dangerous. Danger? Never met her. I'm so far from danger that I'm probably safer here than on the jet. I could show you some statistics on jet accidents that would make your heads spin.” 

As he talked he destroyed another bird, and watched it blow away into the wind. Maybe he could get them all before the team got here, and convince them there had never been any birds in the first place. In distance a street sign fell over with a clang. Maybe not. 

“Tony, we are literally five minutes away, and I specifically asked you not to engage,” Cap started, but par for the course, Tony wasn't paying attention. His eyes followed the black mist and he realized that the birds he hit weren't dissolving into nothingness like he assumed, as much as they were reforming into one giant bird. A very angry giant bird. 

“Well shit…” was the only thing Tony had time to say before the bird stretched out an enormous wing and knocked him through a wall. 

Tony blacked out for a second and when he woke up his HUD flashed red. Anything not damaged before the start of the fight sure was dented now. He stood up and wobbled a little, the servos in his leg making a grinding sound when he tried to move it. Great. 

“Alright you glorified turkey, now you’ve pissed me off.” He raised his arms and tried to fire his repulsors. One shot out a weak pulse that pittered out before it hit the bird, and the other remained dark. Jarvis was never going to let him live this down. 

“Artillery it is,” he thought to himself, as he fired a shoulder rocket at the bird. The missile flew right through like it was smoke. Which made sense, because according to all of his scans, the bird was made of smoke. The claws that grabbed him, however, were very solid. He was thrown against the ground again and again, and the bird grabbed him so tightly he could hear metal bending with a screech. That wasn't good. 

“I’m sorry I touched your mini versions, the rule is no touching, I get the picture, now let me go!” Tony struggled against the talons as the bird flew high into the sky. 

“Cap! I could use that backup right about now!” There was only static, either his comms had been damaged or the birds were putting off some sort of interference. 

Tony was pounding ineffectively at the bird’s leg when it disappeared with a mournful wail. Tony had no time to celebrate before he realized that he was plummeting towards the ground. He kicked on the suit's rupulsors, and after a half second the lights in his hands flickered out. Then his boot jet went out too. Tony wasn’t surprised, it was just one of those days. He tried to stay in the air, but with only one boot and no hands he wasn't able to stabilize himself and was falling faster and faster. 

He closed his eyes, and thought of the last time he plowed his way into the ground, in his very first suit, then again in the second, and the fifth, and had it really been that many times? He should give up and install a parachute at this point, except right now it was a little too late, the ground was approaching fast and it wasn’t going to wait for him to go back to his lab and tinker. Tony braced himself; this was going to hurt. 

Except instead of hitting concrete, he fell into a net. It snapped under the weight of the armor but slowed his fall enough that he landed with only a few more bruises added to his already aching body. He was never going to make fun of birds again. He pushed himself up with a groan, and saw a man in a red white and blue costume walking towards him, holding a smaller man with a scepter in handcuffs. Hooray for teamwork. 

“Thanks for the save, Cap,” he coughed, trying to get his breath back. 

“No problem,” the man said. As Tony reoriented himself and took a closer look, he realized that the uniform wasn't quite right. Tony pushed himself to his feet. 

“I must have hit my head, I'm seeing strange.” 

Not-Cap laughed. “Are you alright? I'm guessing falling out of the sky like that isn't an everyday occurrence?” 

The voice was wrong and Steve was used to his antics, so this was a new guy; not Steve with a wardrobe change or Tony with a head injury. The stranger looked annoyingly in control and well pressed in the knock off red white and blue, while Tony’s poor suit groaned and sparked, the lovely gold stained black with smoke from the birds. 

“Unfortunately falling tends to be part of the job. I'll let you in on a trade secret, superheroing is not as glamorous as it looks.” His gauntlet sparked again, almost to emphasize his point. He needed to fix that. And now the rest of the suit too. There went his weekend plans. He had really wanted to go with Steve to the Met too. 

Not-Cap raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Maybe you're doing it wrong then. My version seems to involve a lot more catching villains, saving cute guys and being an all around hero to the people.” 

Tony grinned back, though his head was pounding. He didn't know who this guy was, but he liked his sass. “It's possible, not like anyone ever gave me an instruction manual. And if they did, I can promise you I wouldn't read it.” 

He shook off his useless gauntlet and held out his hand. “Tony Stark, Iron Man.” 

The other man took it, and shook it firmly, shooting him a cocky smile. “Captain Britain, but you can call me Brian.” 

Then the real Cap finally showed up and was at his side in a flash, holding his arm, asking if he was ok and yelling that ‘He was going to get himself killed and where did the birds go and who was this?’ and it wasn't until Tony was back on the jet holding an ice pack to his head that he realized he was “the hot guy” Brian had been rescuing. And that was almost as intriguing as it was annoying.


	2. Tony's perspective

### 

About a week later, the Avengers were all hanging out in the kitchen eating breakfast. Steve was eating plate after plate of scrambled eggs. Sam, Clint and Natasha were eating the same, at a much more sedate pace, while Tony was standing by the counter drinking coffee almost as fast as Steve was shoveling down the eggs. 

“Any emergencies going on today?” Tony asked as he topped up his cup and shuffled over to the table. “Hey, out of my seat, Katniss.” 

“We have a seating chart now? What are we, kindergarteners?” Huffed Clint, making a show of settling more firmly into the chair. Tony bumped the chair with his hip and took a swig of coffee. 

“I'll tell you what, next time you can buy the chairs, and then you can sit wherever you want. Until then, this is my chair. Don't make me paint it red and gold, you know I will.” He threatened and crossed his arms, feeling a little silly still holding the enormous cup of coffee. It must have looked as silly as it felt because Clint was evidently not impressed. 

“If you paint this chair, I'm painting the rest purple. Admit it, you want to sit next to Steve,” he shot back, though he still got up and went to sit in his usual spot by Natasha. Tony plopped down smugly, careful not to spill his coffee. 

“Because he gives me eggs. Right, Steve?” 

He looked over at his friend with Bambi eyes as he settled into his chair. Steve let out an exaggerated sigh, and handed Tony a plate full of eggs with a smile. He gave his arm a playful punch and said, “Ya know, I think it was your turn to cook.” 

“Really?” Tony mumbled around a mouth full of eggs. “I guess it slipped my mind. It's not too late for me to whip you guys up some omelettes.” 

“Please no,” Sam moaned. “We all remember the last time Tony cooked, calling it burned is generous. I think there was more shell than egg.” 

“It wasn't that bad,” Steve said, trying to defend Tony, who laughed it off good naturedly. “You grew up in the depression, I'm sure if I served you some dandelions on a plate you'd tell me it was the finest salad you've ever eaten. I'm great at many things, including being just amazingly modest….” and at that he had to dodge the mug Clint threw at him, which Steve caught before it could hit the ground and primly put back on the table outside of Clint’s reach. Tony stuck out his tongue at Clint and continued, “But I'm willing to admit that cooking isn't one of my strong suits. That's why takeout was invented. I'm the futurist, I'm waiting for the day that food comes out of a box with the touch of a button, then I'll be laughing while you look back on all the years you wasted learning to cook.” He folded his arms as Natasha snorted. 

“Really Tony, years? You follow the recipe and try not to light anything on fire, it’s not that hard.” 

“Yeah,” Clint chimed in, “Mr. Billionaire Genius Businessman, it's not rocket science.” Tony started to throw his mug at Clint before Steve grabbed his arm. 

“Aw Spangles, you're no fun.” Tony complained as Steve unapologetically plucked the mug from his hand, and drank the rest of the coffee. He got up and put it in the sink. 

“I'm trying to keep you from breaking your favorite mug, Tony.” 

“I take it all back,” Tony agreed immediately. “I'd say you're the best except you drank my coffee, so I'm gonna have to put you after Rhodey. I can assure you it's close though, and the top three all get prizes so there's really nothing wrong with runner up.” As Tony was talking, Clint sat up in his chair. “Wait, your favorite mug is the kitten mug? The kitten mug???” 

Tony sighed. “Really, this sort of thing is why you are very last on the ‘Tony Stark favoritism list’. You're below the mailman, and I think physical mail is an affront to my very person. I hope you're proud.” 

Clint laughed, and Sam hid a smile behind his hand. Steve loudly gathered the plates and put them in the dishwasher to hide his quiet chuckles. Natasha kept her poker face except for the crinkles in the corner of her eyes, a tell she refused to admit. Meanwhile Tony explained in loudly and in detail that no, it wasn’t a kitten, it was a modern Art Deco of a cat, a historically and culturally significant animal, and besides, it was the largest mug in the house, and they were all just jealous. 

Jarvis didn't have feelings in quite the same way as the humans he watched over, but he still felt unhappy as he broke the quiet camaraderie of the morning with bad news. 

“Sir, I'm afraid the city is once more under attack by ravens.” 

Tony frowned and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. “Didn't we already take care of this last week? Because if I'm stuck in some sort of ground hogs day, I'd rather not have it be the day a bird dropped me fifty stories.” Tony pulled out his phone and tapped at it, pulling up a hologram for the team to see as he set it on the table. 

Images of birds attacking a bank appeared, along with shaky footage from civilian bystanders. “It appears to be a different person Sir, with a different weapon. The avians are not currently causing any harm outside of damage to the nearby buildings.” Jarvis stated. Unlike the last man, this one didn't hide among clouds of birds, instead standing in the middle of the street as if daring someone to stop him. He held a orb with a cross on top in place of a scepter, and that seemed to be what was controlling the birds. Tony was unimpressed. “They start handing these out with Happy meals, J? What's with all the bird villains?” 

“I'm afraid I don't have the information available to answer that.” 

“Did you get anything from the other guy there last time?” Asked Natasha, spinning a throwing knife between her hands. Where had she even gotten that? Did she come armed to breakfast? Tony wasn't as surprised as he would have been a few months ago before everyone moved into the tower with him. The first few weeks had been a wild ride. Now they were all used to each other, and as much as he denied it, he loved the company, knives and all. 

Tony did his best to answer her question. “I was a little busy trying not to throw up or pass out on my feet, thank you very much. I did get his name, he goes by Brian, also known as Captain Britain. I had Jarvis look him up, he's like the British version of Steve, except he claims to have gotten his super strength and all that jazz from magic.” Tony made a face, and Steve met his eyes, acknowledging his hatred of magic and silently reminding him to stay on topic. Tony abandoned his perfectly reasonable tangent about the horrors of magic, and continued. 

“He's the real deal, the papers over there seem to like him, and he's done plenty of what I’d call superhero work. I don't know why he's decided to trot over to this side of the pond, though. I should have asked.” 

Steve walked over from where he had been leaning against the sink and put a hand on his shoulder. “You should have waited for us to get there.” 

Tony tipped his chair back and looked up at him with an unapologetic grin. “Well maybe you guys should try for a response time that could beat molasses. I've seen turtles that move faster than you guys. You know I built the quinjet to go supersonic, right?” 

Steve pushed Tony's chair back down on four legs, unamused. “We can't go supersonic in city limits, last time the mayor just about popped a gasket. And this time you're riding with us on the jet, even if that means handcuffing you and tying you to the top.” 

Tony stood up, and playfully tapped him on the chest. “Handcuffs and orders, getting pretty wild there, Babe.” 

Steve blushed bright red and Tony walked away laughing. “Don't worry, I'll meet you in the hanger in five.” 

Steve smiled, and joked back, “It's a date.” Then he turned serious, going into what Tony thought of as Captain mode. “I wasn't kidding Tony, if you fly off alone again I'm going to hurt you worse than the birds!” 

What was with everyone babying him lately? First Jarvis, now Steve. Tony responded the same way, throwing him a sloppy salute and a sassy grin before disappearing down the hall to go put on his armor. Steve turned to the rest of the Avengers who were all giving him indulgent smiles. 

He scowled. “What are you guys waiting for, let's go!” He clapped his hands and the Avengers stood and rushed off to arm themselves. They regrouped in the hanger a few minutes later, including Thor who had slept through breakfast, and boarded the quinjet, ready to fight. 

“Wheels up, let's rock and roll!” Tony yelled as he took the controls and started up the jet. Since he didn't get to fly on his own he claimed flying the jet. Tony had a long history of always driving himself, and if Happy, his actual chauffeur, hadn't convinced Tony to let him drive in all the years of working for him, nothing was stopping him today. 

Steve entered and gave Tony an approving pat on the shoulder. He walked towards the back of the jet and sat down, strapping in. Sam sat across from him, next to Clint, and he handed the archer some cash. 

Steve sighed. “Sam, please tell me you haven't gotten into betting too. Clint and Natasha were bad enough.” 

Sam smiled ruefully. “Just this once, Cap. We were betting on how long it'd take Tony to kick Clint out of his seat this morning. I thought he'd be faster to be honest.” 

Clint preened a little. “Never doubt my stalling tactics, Sam. Just because I run around in a purple jumpsuit now doesn't mean I'm not the best spy and secret agent in the world!” 

Natasha glared at him from across the jet. “Well, maybe second best.” He amended hastily. “Definitely best archer though.” 

Within minutes they reached the scene of the attack. Tony shut off the controls, got up and walked towards the group, his metal boots making echoing thuds. 

“That's because there's no one else competing for the title. Best archer for our team is more like a participation prize at this point. Now who's ready to break some eggs?” 

They all stepped out of the quinjet into a sea of black wings and feathers. 

“No eggs here, friend Stark, only villainous birds at their full maturity.” Remarked Thor as they stared over the beat up buildings, watching the birds glide in and out of the broken windows. Cap started swinging at the birds with his shield and Widow hit them with her stingers. Same as last time, they dissolved into mist which drifted off in the breeze. Tony kept an eye out to see where it was collecting. 

“It's just a saying big guy,” he explained, “to make an omelet you first gotta break a few eggs.” He punctuated his words with repulsor blasts into the teeming fog of ravens, turning them to smoke. He flew back near the jet, hit the birds with his repulsors a few more times then picked up Hawkeye and flew him to a better vantage point to shoot. It was good to have his suit back at full functionality, and he was ready for any tricks these birds might get up to. 

Thor swung at the birds with his hammer, passing through them as they dissolved into smoke, this time reforming only moments later in their same size and form. “I have had one of your omelettes in the past, friend Stark, and I think I would prefer my eggs unbroken.” He raised his hammer and called down lighting,lighting up the street with a boom of sound and light. It did no more damage to the birds than Tony waving his hands through the air. 

“I second that!” Yelled Sam as he swooped by, slicing through the birds with smoke trailing from his wings in dissolving ribbons. 

Seeing as last time his missiles had had little effect, he used his laser to cut a swatch through the birds, creating a brief empty space before they poured back in. Nothing was working, and now people were ragging on his cooking again.“Seriously guys? Twice in one day? We already had this conversation, let it go! It's not like I poisoned your grandmas or something!” 

“Focus guys, this isn't working.” Shouted Steve as he threw his shield. “The birds keep coming back. Iron Man, how do we stop these things?” 

Tony plucked the shield from the air as it whizzed past him and threw it back to Cap. It whirled across the sky, slicing through several birds before Cap caught it and hit another bird in one clean movement. ‘Yay for teamwork’, Tony thought to himself. The birds immediately reformed. Well, shit. 

“I have no idea, scans of them come back blank or as thick smoke. I hate magic. Have I told you how much I hate magic? Our best bet is to separate the guy from his crystal ball, that's what stopped them last time. But it's magic, so who knows, maybe this time it'll open a portal to the raven dimension and we'll have doomed the Earth,” he said bitterly. 

“Stay positive Tony,” returned Cap. “There's nothing we can't do when we work together. Do you see the hostile anywhere?” 

He flew above the birds to where the skies were clearer and tried to peer through the birds for the man he had seen in the video. 

“Sometimes I can't even wrap my head around your levels of cheesiness and team spirit.” He said to Steve as he switched to thermal images and quickly located the only heat signature not registered to his team. Make that two heat signatures. One was the man controlling the birds, the orb he was holding was showing up as colder than the surroundings. 

“Found him Cap, as well as a possible hostage.” said Tony, his voice now serious. While they didn’t care much about a few knocked over street signs, hostages were serious business. 

“I'm sending everyone the location.” 

“Great work, everyone move in. I want this guy surrounded, but we don't want to scare him into harming the hostage. I'm going in alone to try to talk to him.” 

“Roger that,” said Natasha over the comms. 

“Roger that? What? No, that's a terrible plan!” yelled Tony. “You're going to walk up to the guy who's putting on his own little rendition of Hitchcock's ‘The Birds’ and ask him nicely to stand down and hold out his hands to be arrested? I thought you were supposed to be the man with a plan, Spangles.” 

“We don't have time for this Iron Man, follow orders.” Natasha said. 

“What orders? Sending our resident grandpa in alone is not a plan! There's no way we'll be able to get a clear shot through the birds, he’ll be going in blind with blinder backup, it's unnecessarily dangerous!” Tony insisted. 

Steve sighed to himself, clearly thinking about the last time they fought these guys, where Tony had charged in head first and almost gotten himself killed trying to take on the birds alone. 

“Tony,” Steve said gently. “We don't know what's going on and we can't risk hurting the hostage. Please let me try to talk it out, I'll use the old captain America charm, yeah? And the second he makes a threatening move you do your thing and come in guns a blazing. Just trust me.” 

He made it sound so reasonable and Tony hated him. In the past few months of working with Tony, Steve had learned that if he went in fighting it would escalate things until nobody won, because you can't change the mind of the rock steady Captain America, and no one out stubborns the infamous Tony Stark. So being a master tactician, Steve had started trying different things until he settled on a unbeatable mix of kindness and logic that got Tony every single damn time. The kicker was that Tony knew exactly what he was doing, and it still worked. 

The comms were quiet for a second, then Tony caved, because he could fight you on anything until the ends of the earth, but was a complete sucker for a please and thank you. 

Steve was pleased and unsurprised to be getting his way, that jerk. “Let's get a move on before these birds destroy every window in the city.” 

“Be safe Steve,” Tony cautioned him, more anxious than he'd like to admit, and still unhappy with the so called ‘plan’. 

And with that Cap walked forward into the eye of the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter two! I hope you liked it! What's going to happen inside the storm? Find out in a few days!


	3. Tony's perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is reckless, Tony doesn't follow orders, I'm sure that's a huge surprise to everyone

From his vantage point flying above, Tony watched Cap walk closer and assess the situation. Tony was closer than Steve had ordered, but he was lucky Tony was listening at all. 

The man controlling the birds was unremarkable, of average height and weight, identical to hundreds of people that walked the streets of New York everyday. In one hand he held a golden orb with a cross on top, in the other, a normal hand gun. The dichotomy made Tony want to laugh. Sure an army of magic birds was cool, but it was hard to top a good old fashioned gun. 

Cap turned his gaze to the other man. He was dressed in a combat uniform much like his own, but with the British flag stretched across his chest in bright red, white, and blue. Steve spoke into the comms, updating his team. “The hostage is not a civilian, it's Captain Britain. He seems dazed but unharmed. The hostile has not tried to engage, I'm going to try to initiate peace talks.” 

Tony snorted as Steve walked forward. He was trying to look nonaggressive while wearing full tactical gear and holding his shield, and it wasn’t working. Tony felt like half the time Steve still through of himself as a 5’4” shrimp, and not the six foot muscle bound lummox he was now. 

When Steve got within a few feet he started talking. “Hello citizen, please stand down and control your birds.” 

The man laughed at that, and Tony couldn’t blame him. Since waking up in the future Steve had decided to roll with the public's perception of him as the all American goody two shoes. Sometimes he pulled it off, his intrinsic desire to do the right thing shining through... other times, stuff like this came out of his mouth. 

“I don't think so, Captain America. I'm not going anywhere until I find what I need.” 

The birds began flying closer, the circle of free space shrinking, forcing Cap to step closer to the villain and Captain Britain, who laid beside him with the gun aimed at his head. 

“What do you need?” Cap asked, remaining unintimidated. As far as villains went, birds really weren't bad. 

The nondescript man grinned. “I want what every collector wants; a complete set.” 

Vague nonsense, great. Tony almost preferred it when the villains tied them up to monologue for half an hour. At least then he knew what the hell was going on. Tony's scanners picked up another heat source, approaching fast. 

“You got another hostile approaching from the back, Cap, duck!” 

Instead of ducking, Cap swung his shield around behind him, striking the man who was about to hit him with a baseball bat. The man made a small roof and hit the ground hard, the crown he was wearing bouncing off his head. Immediately the flock of birds thinned to half its previous size. The man bounced back up and lunged for the crown, Cap tackling him before he could reach it. With his superior strength and training the other man didn’t stand a chance, and Tony watched with ride as Steve grabbing the man's arm and kneed him in the gut. As the man bent over in pain he grabbed the man’s other arm and forced it behind him. 

“Captain America!” The man with the ball yelled. “You will let my friend go, or else I will shoot your more charming counterpart here.” He waved the gun threateningly at the dazed man’s head, and shook him roughly to emphasize his point. 

Cap stood up and let go of the wrists of his attacker, unwilling to risk the other man’s life. Tony scowled. Talking it out wasn’t working. The blond man with the ball smiled smugly, a look that quickly turned to horror as Tony landed and reached a metal covered hand out from the fog of birds to knock away the gun he was holding. 

“I think it’s time for a plan B, Cap” he said, and stepped fully out of the stream of birds. He decked the man who had been holding the gun, knocking him out and sending the ball in his other hand flying. The rest of the birds disappeared. It rolled to a stop at the feet of the man with the bat. He grabbed it and ran, the birds appearing again and picking up his partner who was already waking up. The birds swirled around them thickly, until they were lost in all the smoke. 

With Steve safe and the threat gone, Tony turned his attention to Captain Britain. He looked like he was starting to refocus. He helped him to his feet with an arm around his shoulders and then over to a bench that had avoided most of the destruction. 

“We need to quit meeting like this,” the battered man said. 

“Just returning the favor,” Tony insisted. 

Cap walked over to them, holding the crown. It looked to be made of solid gold with real gems, and a quick scan using his suit didn’t return any unusual readings. Tony hated magic. 

“I think we need to have a chat,” Cap said to the other captain sternly. 

Brian smiled ruefully. “Yes, I think maybe we do.” 

“Cap, we lost him,” interrupted Hawkeye over the comms. “We followed them to a crowded area, the birds dropped them off and people scattered everywhere. We weren't able to tell them apart from the civilians.” 

“Sorry Cap,” added Falcon. 

“It's all right, we have a new source of information. Avengers to me, we need to talk to Captain Britain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have wifi for a while there, but now I'm back!!!


	4. Tony's perspective

The problems started, like many of the Avenger’s problems, with an innocent suggestion. 

“Could we do this over lunch?” Tony asked. “I’m starved, this streets is a mess, and Brian looks like he’s about ready to fall over.” 

“Get bludgeoned on the head a few times with a bat and see how you feel.” Brian snapped. “Kane, the blonde bloke, stood in the middle of the street to lure me out, then 

Maxwell came from behind and hit me with his bloody bat. Can you believe that? He can control thousands of invincible ghost ravens with a thought and he hits me with an aluminum baseball bat he probably stole from some kiddies softball match. Ridiculous.” 

“Well if it's dumb and it works, it isn’t dumb, that my motto,” replied Tony. He knelt in front of the bench. He took off his helmet and pushed his hair flat. Brian whistled. 

“My, aren’t you lovely. I’ve never seen you without that clunky helmet.” 

Tony snorted. He knew he had helmet hair, but he’d take the complement. 

“Right back atcha, handsome.” He grabbed Brian’s face and looked at his eyes. 

“Are we having a moment?” Brian asked, half serious. 

“He’s checking you for a concussion.” Steve said brusquely. 

“We’re having a moment,” Tony said at the same time. Steve glared at him and Tony shrugged. “What, I can’t multitask?” 

It’d been a while since his playboy days and sometimes he missed the flirting. He liked this Brian guy, he was fun. 

He let go of Brian’s face and stood up. “Good news, you don’t have any brains coming out your ears, and whatever magic mumbo jumbo you have going on seems to be doing its stuff.” 

“Hey, don’t knock the magic. It helps me recover quickly, from all sorts of different things.” He raised an eyebrow suggestively. 

Steve stepped between them, grabbing Tony’s arm and pulling him away. “Lunch sounds great, let's go get something to eat, and we can debrief Captain Britain, and get right back to stopping the birds on our own.” 

Tony pulled his arm from Steve's grip irritably. “We gotta wait for everyone else to get back from chasing the birds, and our team is taking their sweet time as usual. I swear, one of these days I'm going to build you all rocket boots and be done with it.” 

Steve seemed willing to humor him with a subject change. “That’d be pretty swell Tony, but how would you power them?” 

Tony frowned into the distance, already thinking it through. “Well….” he started…”I'd probably have to be some form of reactor, there wouldn't be enough room for any other decent power supply without weighing down the boot. But I don’t think I could get a reactor much smaller than the one powering the suit without it becoming radioactive and unstable.” He continued, talking more to himself at this point, and Steve relaxed. Tony hadn’t realized his friend was tense until he watched his shoulders come down to normal. Must have been stressed about going in to fight alone. 

Then Brian chimed in and Steve tensed right back up. 

“What if you made it bigger? Made it the circumference of the whole top of the boot and had them put their leg through the middle?” 

That was wrong on so many levels it was sad. Tony sat down next to him and started in on trying to explain. “You can’t cut out the center, it's a matter of resonance. It would burn your leg off, then explode.” 

Brian gave him a blank look and Tony sighed to himself. Why couldn’t there be more scientist type superheroes? This guy became a hero through magic, he probably thought the reactor ran on the dreams of children and unicorn tears. 

“I could maybe put it on the heel, get the energy out the same way I focus the unibeam, but as pure thrust with a lower heat to power ratio. A four inch flat heel isn't too bad, right?” 

“I know women who can run in six inch stilettos, I'm sure three would be fine.” Brian agreed. 

“Great! As soon as I get back to my lab I’ll start building. Say, you want a pair?” Tony offered. From what he could tell this guy didn’t even have a jet. He was never going to get anywhere in time to be useful, not in America where towns could be easily an hour apart and it’d take them seven hours to get to California from New York by plane. 

“I’d love some. Maybe I could stop by your lab, and you could show me a few tricks.” he said with a charming smile. He leaned closer to say something else, but before he could get a word out, Steve pulled Tony up off the bench. 

“Our team is here, let’s go eat. You can build rocket boots for strangers later.” 

Tony pulled away, annoyed at being interrupted. “Fine. You need to relax, you’re acting weird today.” 

“I am relaxed, I’m perfectly relaxed,” insisted Steve as he walked off, still clearly upset. Tony didn't know what was up with him. After all, Tony had followed orders and wasn't the one trying to talk to crazy bird men alone and pulling teammates off benches for no reason. Tony helped Brian to his feet and helped him limp after Steve. 

Clint trotted up to them. “Trouble in paradise?” He asked. 

"Watch out, Steve’s in a mood.” Tony said sourly. 

“Yeah, I can tell.” 

“He’s grumpy because he’s hungry. Let’s hurry up and get some food, I’m half starved myself.” Tony complained, and with everyone there they finally started the trip to the restaurant.


	5. Tony's perspective

Steve lead them to the nearest restaurant that was still open and serving food. One of the windows in the front was damaged, but it was otherwise unaffected by the attack. A waitress lead them to a table, where Tony helped Brian into a chair and sat beside him, tossing his gauntlets on the table with a clang. 

As soon as he sat down Sam had him back up, asking “Hey Tony, could you come outside with me and check over the wings real quick? Something’s loose and I don't want them to explode while we're trying to enjoy a burger.” 

“No problem!” Tony said, heaving himself back to his feet. “Be back in a second,” he said, patting Brian’s shoulder. Brian grabbed his hand and planted a kiss on his palm. 

“Hurry back sugar.” 

Tony laughed and walked outside with Sam. Inside they could hear a glass shattering and Steve apologizing to the waitress. They guy was such a klutz for being a supposed super soldier. Sam handed him the wings and leaned against the wall. Tony placed them on the ground, sat beside them and began tinkering with them, pulling a small screwdriver out of a panel in his armor. 

“So that's the Captain guy?” Asked Sam. 

Tony pulled out the wing’s central processing board and looked it over with a critical eye. “Yup.” 

Sam waited for more. Normally Tony was the chattiest person on the team, and Sam had never seen him fix anything without talking to himself through every step. Right now he seemed uncharacteristically quiet. Sam decided to continue. “It seems like you two really hit it off.” 

Tony looked up at him, his face impassive, before looking down to continue working on the wings. “He’s nice.” 

Sam pushed himself away from the wall where he was leaning and crossed his arms, frowning. “Something wrong?” 

Tony kept his head down but his hands stopped moving, the wings reassembled. “That’s the problem Sam, nothing is wrong. I looked over every inch, your wings are good as new, not a scratch on them, let alone something explosive. Why did you call me out here?” He looked up at Sam, his dark eyes glinting suspiciously. 

Sam bit his lip, caught, and decided to get straight to the point. “Maybe cool it a little with this new guy. Cap looks like he's about to strangle someone and I'm pretty sure he just broke a glass in there. He gets worked up when you guys fight.” Tony stood and shoved the wings back into Sam’s arms. “I’m not fighting with Steve. He’s a little tense from the battle and he always has a harder time controlling his strength when he’s worked up. I’ll pay for any glasses he breaks. And Brian? I don’t understand what he has to do with anything. I'm flirting a little, I'm a flirty person, it’s fun. Don’t worry about it.” 

Sam frowned as Tony turned and walked back in. Inside the restaurant everyone had shifted seats so now Steve beside Brian in the seat Tony had originally taken, and Natasha was on Brian’s other side, leaving an open seat next to Steve and one next to Clint. 

“I seem to be trapped in a game of musical chairs today,” Tony sighed, sitting in his customary spot next to Steve. Tony picked up a menu, while the rest of the team looked at Sam who frowned and shrugged. Everyone ordered food, Steve, Brian and Thor getting multiple plates of food to make up for their increased metabolisms. The food came out quickly, since no one wanted to offend the heroes of New York in case it was their restaurant in danger the next time a villain came calling. Besides that, Tony had a reputation of leaving exorbitant tips. 

As the Avengers ate, Brian did his best to explain what had been going on. 

“There has long been a myth that if the ravens ever leave the white tower, all of England will fall. Though not exactly true, like most myths it was based in fact. Three weeks ago the Crown Jewels were stolen. The crown, the scepter, and the globus cruciger. Each object contains the power to summon and control the mythic tower ravens. As long as the Crown Jewels remained in England, the ravens were bound to protect the Tower and country against magical threats. Four weeks ago, three men attacked the Tower and stole the Jewels. Leroy, who I caught last time we met, and Kane and Maxwell who are still loose with the globus cruciger. I am on a mission for the Queen to find these men and return the Jewels, before anyone realizes they're missing and tries to take advantage of my country's lack of magical defenses.” 

Clint whistled. “That’s quite the story.” 

Thor leaned forward, earnestly saying, “My shield brothers and I would be honored to join you on your noble quest to save your kingdom.” 

Everyone looked at Steve, who as team leader made the final decision. He looked like he was eating lemons but spit out an affirmative. Tony leaned forward on the table to see Brian better and said, “I can't believe someone stole the Crown Jewels and it didn't even make the papers.” 

Brian gave him a bitter close mouthed smile. “The Queen didn't want to advertise to any sorcerers that our gates are now wide open. I could be jailed for sharing such information with you, but if I can't trust the Avengers, who can I trust?” He said. “Besides, I couldn’t doubt a face as pretty as yours.” 

“That must be why I trusted you from day one,” Tony responded playfully. 

Everyone jumped at a sharp crack and looked over at Steve, who had snapped the wooden handle of the knife he was holding. He slapped it down on the table. 

“Sorry, I don't seem to know my own strength today.” 

Clint looked like he wanted to say something. Natasha kicked him under the table. 

Steve continued after taking a deep breath. ”So, the man with the ball said that he wanted something, a matched set. What did he mean?” 

Brian frowned. “I'm afraid I don't know.” 

Steve sensed a hole in his story and continued, leaning forward aggressively. 

“Why are they in America if they're English? And if these birds are so great why are they using them to rob banks like petty crooks? And what do they want? Kane had control of the bank for a twenty minutes before we got here and he didn’t leave with any cash. What aren't you telling us?” 

Brian crossed his arms defensively. “Look, I told you what I know. I want to figure out what's going on just as much as you do.” 

“Right,” muttered Steve, unconvinced at his sincerity. 

Natasha tried to defuse the situation. “There's nothing more we can do right now. I'll talk to my contacts and Tony can have his computers run a search program.” She turned to Brian. “We’ll let you know as soon as we get a hit. Until then, try to find answers to Cap’s questions.” 

Brian nodded and stood up. He grabbed a pen from the waitress and walked behind Steve to Tony. He took Tony's hand and wrote his phone number down in large black numbers. 

“So you can call me when you get a lead,” he said, but his cheeky grin and sparkling eyes told everyone that he hoped Tony would be calling for a different reason. Then he strode out of the restaurant confidently, showing no sign that he had been half carried in. 

Back at the table, there was an almost palpable tension. Steve was purposefully avoiding looking at Tony, and Sam was keeping his head down, picking at his food. Clint and Natasha were sending each other glances, and Thor was fiddling with his empty cup, instead of smashing on the floor and asking for another in his usual boisterous way. Tony broke the awkward silence by loudly pushing his chair back. “You guys ready to leave?” He asked. 

He noticed the team was acting oddly but he didn’t know why and he didn’t know how to fix it. They all got up, and Tony noticed that Brian had taken the crown with him. That was probably for the best, Tony didn’t want any magic in his tower. He joined the others in walking back to the jet. The Avengers flew home, unhappy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Everything I know about the crown jewels came from Wikipedia, so if I got stuff wrong I'm sorry. Hopefully you are are here Steve/Tony drama and not crown jewel facts.
> 
> Also, are you guys ready for Endgame? I can't believe they gave us a trailer today out of nowhere but I'm not complaining...


	6. Tony's perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony talk things out and somehow manage to miscommunicate more than if they hadn't talked at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter! And another one coming very soon, probably tomorrow morning? Thanks for reading. Also, it's almost the weekend! I'm excited.

### 

It was Thursday, which meant movie night at Avengers tower. Things were still tense from the events earlier that day. Normally Sam, Thor, Clint and Natasha shared the couch, while Steve and Tony squished together on the small love seat in the corner. Today as they sat down Tony nabbed Clint’s spot. 

“Seriously, Tony?” Clint complained. 

Tony stuck his tongue out at him and settled in deeper. “Think of it as revenge for earlier,” he replied. On the surface he was referring to Clint stealing his chair at breakfast that morning, but it also held a barb for Steve, who was sitting alone in the spot they usually shared and shoving popcorn into his mouth and pretending not to listen. Clint sat of the arm of the love seat next to Steve with a grumble. “I’m picking the movie then.” 

When no one voiced any complaints he grabbed the remote and started flicking through the options. He picked _Dog Cops: Ruff and Tumble_ and started it. 

He tossed the remote on the table and frowned at Steve. "Could you scootch over?" 

It was a small couch and Steve was a big guy, there wasn't a lot of extra room and even after Steve folded himself as small as he could onto his side of the cushions, they still would be touching. That wasn't a problem when he shared with Tony, who was more than willing to sit sideways with his legs in Steve's lap or his arm around his shoulders. Even if Clint had wanted to get that close to Steve, he was pretty sure Tony would kill him if he tried. Instead he stole a pillow from behind Thor (who was a huge pillow hog anyway) and sat on the floor. They all settled in to watch the movie. It was quiet for a few minutes, then they started laughing and joking like usual, and the morning was forgotten, except for Steve who sat alone in the love seat and single mindedly continued to eat popcorn by the fistful and ignore everyone else. 

After the movie was over they all got up and left except for Tony, who went and squeezed into the love seat. He liked being around Steve. His friend felt solid, felt safe. Tony was always happier when he was around him, and it was no trial to sit close and rest his head on Steve’s shoulder. 

“You doing ok?” He asked. “You’ve been breaking things all day.” 

“Just a clumsy sort of day,” Steve said, rolling a few of the remaining unpopped kernels around in his hand. He dropped them back in the bowl and put it on the table with exaggerated gentleness and smiled when Tony laughed. He leaned back and let himself relax. “I’m glad you’re here, I thought you were mad at me.” 

“I was mad at you. You yelled at me for going in to fight the birds alone then did the same thing today.” Tony retorted, punching his arm playfully. “I think I figured it out though. You’re upset about Brian.” 

“Might be,” Steve admitted, looking away. 

Tony nodded. “I knew it. Don’t worry, you’ll always be my best friend. If I spend time with him, I’m not going to stop having time for you.” He assured him. Now Steve was all tense again. Maybe he needed more reassurance? He didn't want Steve to walk away upset, and not just because he didn't want to spend his free time fixing broken doors and reordering silverware to replace the bent stuff. 

“You’re a great friend and I love spending time with you. Nothing is going to change that.” 

“Nothing?” Steve asked in a weird voice. Tony hesitated. The way Steve had asked, it seemed like agreeing would be a bad thing. Tony reviewed what he said and didn’t see anything wrong. Steve would always be his friend. For a long time Tony had hoped for more, but after so many years of neither of them making a move, he had given up, and convinced himself that it was for the best. If Steve was interested in something more he would have said something by now, so Tony wasn’t going to risk scaring off one of the most important people in his life over a unrequited crush. 

“Nothing.” he said finally. 

Steve nodded and got up without looking at Tony. 

“Thanks for talking with me, I think I get it now. I won’t try to interfere with anything between you and the new guy. Goodnight, Tony.” 

“Goodnight,” Tony said, glad they had things settled.


	7. Steve's perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I posted these two chapters close together so make sure you caught the last one too!

### 

Two days later, Steve was lying in bed, strategizing. Natasha called it moping, but what did she know. 

Steve had thought things were going well with Tony. They ate lunch together most days, and shared that stupidly small love seat on movie nights, and made flirty jokes with each other that would have crossed a line with any of Steve’s other friends. Sure, Steve had never directly asked him out, but he was getting there (eventually, shut up, Natasha) and felt like they had a pretty good mutual understand going on in the meantime. 

Instead it turned out that Steve was deluding himself; Tony thought they’d be best as friends and was going to go out with some stupid knock off Captain America. He didn't even have a shield! It made Steve so frustrated he wanted to scream, but he refused to get in the way of Tony’s happiness. If he wanted to date Brian, then Steve wasn’t going to stop him. Until Brian turned out to be evil, which he undeniably was, in Steve’s totally unbiased opinion. Then Steve would punch him right in the kisser and Tony would be so impressed he’d forget about staying friends and they’d immediately go out together. 

A fool proof strategy, no matter what Natasha thought. 

. 

With a beep Jarvis sounded an alert. “There is a 99% match found for the criminal known as Maxwell, and his partner Kane. They are attempting to break into a house just outside the city limits.” 

Steve hauled himself out of bed, and started pulling on his uniform. “Tell everyone to assemble in the hanger.” 

Jarvis stated an affirmative and Steve grabbed his shield and ran downstairs. Within a few moments everyone was assembled in front of the quinjet. Almost everyone. 

“Jarvis, where's Tony?” Asked Steve. “We need to get going.” 

“Sir is already on his way, Captain Rogers.” 

“He was supposed to ride in the jet with us. He agreed.” 

“Sir does as he pleases, Captain.” 

"Don't I know it." Steve said with a sigh and lead the team onto the jet. Soon they were in the air heading towards the city limits. When they got there, Tony was already standing next to Captain Britain, fiddling with a piece of machinery while the Captain fended off the birds. Steve hopped out of the jet before it was fully on the ground and stalked over. 

“You aren't supposed to fly ahead. We talked about this” 

"Sorry Mon Capitan,” said Tony, not looking at all apologetic. “I needed time to set this bad boy up.” He gave the box he was tinkering with a shake, slammed on the top a few times, and the box starting emitting a screeching noise. Everyone covered their ears and winced away. 

Thor yelled, “Silence your infernal box before I strike it down myself!” 

“No!” Tony yelled back, “It's working!” 

And it was; around them the birds started to melt into nothingness, the sound waves tearing their ghost like forms apart. Tony's machine started smoking. Tony cursed, opened up the top and started rewiring it, muttering to himself about power rerouting and shorts. 

Steve took control of the situation. “Tony, keep the box going, Britain, guard him from the birds and don't let anyone out of that house. Everyone else with me, let's catch these guys before the birds return! Avengers Assemble!” 

They charged towards the building and through the hole in the side. 

“Falcon, Thor, check upstairs, Widow, Hawkeye, the main floor, I'll take the basement, lets go!” 

The heroes all raced around their respective floors, calling out 'clear' as they searched each room. Steve began to worry that the house was empty and Maxwell and Kane had gotten away again, when he opened the final door in the hallway to reveal the two villains. Maxwell had his trusty bat in his hand and a raven on his shoulder. Kane had the orb. 

A small portly man sweated and shaked beside them, and he almost fainted with relief when Steve entered the small room. It was cramped inside with four people, since most of the space taken up by a ceiling to floor safe. 

Steve put his hand on his earpiece. “I've located the hostile, last room in the basement.” His team acknowledged and raced to join him. Maxwell tried to escape from the room but Cap blocked the door. He retreated back, and grabbed the smaller man around the neck. “Let me out of here or he dies,” growled the cornered villain. 

Steve was unimpressed. “Let him go and I'll get you to prison in one piece.” 

The rest of the Avenger arrived and the men started to panic. Kane tried to summon more birds, but as soon as they got more than a few feet from their creator they dissolved into mist, Tony's machine still loudly screeching outside. Maxwell threw the hostage at Steve and tried to run for the door, where he was quickly detained by Natasha. Without the birds, the men were no threat. Clint shot the orb from Kane’s hand and it rolled across the floor to Thor, who picked it up, and the few remaining misty birds disappeared. Everyone sighed in relief when Tony shut off his box and the room was filled with blessed silence. Iron Man and Captain Britain soon joined them in the basement. 

“Glad to see we finally got ahold of the holy hand grenade,” joked Tony. “But why did they decided to come here?” 

“If that artifact is what I think it is, I can attempt to explain why,” said the hostage. “I am the owner of a valuable diamond pendant, long suspected of being a lost piece of the Crown Jewels. Recently it was displayed at the jewelry store downtown as part of a promotion for their new historical line, but the display ended a few days before the break in, and at that point I had already moved it to my safety deposit box at the bank. After the store was robbed, I decided to move it to my personal safe. I'm glad I did, since the bank was the next place attacked. Although it did end up drawing that crook straight to my home, so maybe it wasn't my best plan after all,” the small man fretted. 

Brian's eyes widened at the new information. “May I see the pendant?” He asked, stepping forward. The man, named Raymond, stuttered out an affirmative and opened his safe. He asked them to stay outside, and disappeared within. Seconds later he emerged holding a enormous diamond at the end of a golden chain. Britain closed his eyes and waved his hand over the pendant. When he opened them again his face was full of shock. He turned towards Steve. 

“Well Captain, I guess we've found what Kane meant by a complete set. A missing piece of the Crown Jewels, held by a collector in America of all places!” He shook his head in disbelief and turned back towards Raymond. “Please expect a call from the Queen in the next week.” 

“The Queen!” Gasped the collector, as he put a hand on his chest. Tony clasped a hand to his shoulder. 

“Don't get starstruck, you need to milk this for all it's worth. Do you think there's anything the Queen wouldn't do for a crown jewel?” 

“You could make her pay to fix your wall,” suggested Falcon helpfully. 

“Wait, my wall?” 

Tony winced and took his hand off the guy's shoulder. “Yeah, Babe Ruth here wasn't gentle getting in. I don't suppose that you've always wanted a second front door, where your windows used to be?” 

The owner of the house raced out of the room and upstairs, and they could hear him complaining sadly at the state of his walls. The Avengers followed, Tony to commiserate on destroyed houses and Clint to defend himself that it was _one time Tony_ , and Thor kept his mouth shut because his own record with keeping the Tower in one piece was less than stellar. Falcon was boasting that he hadn't destroyed the Tower, not even once, and Natasha brought up how sad that was that they considered that an accomplishment. Clint joked that it was Natasha's turn to ruin it, and she should hurry up because he had some great ideas for his second go around. Tony threatened that if they blew up his beautiful tower one more time he was kicking them out on the streets. 

“Let's see you fight crime with no house and no equipment,” he sniffed. Steve put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. 

“Aww c’mon Tony, you know you love us!” 

Tony leaned into him playfully. “Alright Buttercup, you can stay, but Birdbrain over there is gonna have to find a new nest.” 

As Tony walked off Steve paused. He needed to knock it off with the declarations of love now that Tony wanted to be friends only. But he had agreed to loving him and called him Buttercup? Mixed signals. Maybe things weren't as hopeless as he thought. Maybe he still had a chance. 

Steve caught up with the rest of the Avengers as Thor pushed the two criminals on to the jet. They would make a stop at the police station on their way back to the tower, and the NYPD could deal with the details of expediting them to Great Britain for trial. Thor handed Brian the golden orb, and he tucked it away safely in his bag. 

“What are your plans from here?” Steve inquired neutrally. 

Brian shrugged. “I'll probably stay a few more days to work out all the paperwork and purchase the final jewel from the collector. Then I'll go back to England. I don't think America has much need for a Captain Britain, especially when she has such a fine captain of her own,” he joked. “It's been a pleasure working with you.” He held out his hand. 

Steve smiled. Leaving? Sounded great to him. 

“Next time you're in New York, give us a call.” 

Then Steve turned his back and walked away, hoping to never see him again. Because no matter what the other Avengers said, Steve didn't like him, and was glad to see him go. For reasons completely unrelated to Tony of course. He was Captain America, he wasn't biased, he just knew to trust his gut. Nothing to do with Tony. Thinking about Tony now, Steve noticed he wasn't on the jet. He looked outside, where he was gathering up his screeching box and talking to Britain. 

“Hey Tony, let's go!” He yelled from the ramp of the jet. Tony said something to Britain and came over to talk, frowning. 

“I’m not going back with you guys.” 

“What? Why not?” 

“I'm going to hang out with Brian before he has to go back.” 

Steve wanted Tony on the jet and by his side, not gallivanting off with the man Kane had earlier termed his “more charming counterpart”. Not that he cared what villains said. Or where Tony went. He had no right to stop him, and Brian was leaving soon anyway. 

“See you back at the Tower then.” He said with a smile that turned into more of a grimace. 

“You won't even notice I'm gone,” Tony assured him as he gave Steve's arm a pat and hopped out of the jet. The ramp closed, and the team went home down a member.


	8. Steve's perspective

The next morning the Avengers were all gathered around the table for breakfast like normal. Steve filled the kitten mug with coffee and put it in front of Tony’s spot, before starting to make oatmeal. He stirred the oats and water on the stove, added some brown sugar, and put a bowl in front of everyone. They mumbled sleepy thank yous, Steve being the only morning person of the bunch. Tony’s spot was empty, which was not unusual, seeing how he and Thor would rather miss breakfast in exchange for the extra sleep. After being slapped halfway across the room by a dreaming Thor, Steve always just let him sleep in. He was always able to get Tony down though, or up, if he had spent the night in his lab working. Steve got up, regretfully leaving his oatmeal, and went to look for him. First he went to Tony’s floor and punched in the code for his room. 

“Rise and shine, Sweetheart!” he chirped, but the room was empty. Steve frowned both at the room and himself for using the nickname. Just friends, no more nicknames, he reminded himself as he rode the elevator to Tony’s lab. He punched in a different code and strode inside. 

“Tony?” He asked, quickly noting that the room was empty but still calling out just in case Tony decided to pop up from a pile of metal scraps. One of the robots beeped at him, and the lab remained quiet and empty. He gave DUM-E a pat and turned around and moved on to the next spot on the list, the roof. As the elevator rose to the top of the tower Steve began to worry. It wasn't a good sign for Tony to not be in his room or lab. Though they had spent many hours on top of the building happily staring stargazing, Tony only went up to the roof during the day time to mope. 

Steve stepped out of the elevator, and scanned the empty roof. Tony wasn’t here either. Now he was even more worried, because if Tony wasn’t on the roof there weren't many other spots he could be. He checked the gym, even though it was way too early for Tony to even be up, let alone working out. It was unsurprisingly empty. So was the adjacent training room, and the living room, and all of the offices below, since it was Saturday. Tony didn’t have meetings on Saturdays, and never had meetings before ten if he could help it. Steve was starting to get frantic. He rushed back to the kitchen and burst in through the door. 

“Guys, I can’t find Tony!” 

They all looked up from their breakfasts. 

“He’s probably just sleeping in, Cap. Where have you looked?” Natasha asked calmly. 

“Everywhere,” snapped Steve. 

“Everywhere like a normal person, or everywhere for Tony?” asked Clint. “Remember the time he got stuck in the walls when he was jamming machine guns in there to stop intruders? I had to go through the vents to get him out. Although they really did come in handy when Doom’s spider robots tried to come in through the lobby,“ he finished thoughtfully. 

“Guys we don’t have time to talk about spiders, I looked everywhere and Tony is missing!” 

“Try calling him before you freak out,” suggested Natasha. 

Steve pulled out his phone and dialed the number by memory, before putting it to his ear and listening to it ring. Then he heard his own voice on the line. 

“So you only leave a voicemail when you missed someone on the phone? Why not just try again later?” 

Tony's laugh sounded crinkly over the recording. “Hi, you’ve reached Tony Stark, leave a message if you want Captain America to think you’re a quitter!” 

“Tony, that’s not…” And then there was a beep and the message ended. Steve put down the phone. 

“He didn’t pick up. He always picks up.” 

“Tony’s terrible about picking up his phone." Sam said, unconcerned. "Have you tried asking Jarvis?” 

“He always picks up for me. Always.“ He said, tapping the phone against his leg. Inside he was going crazy with worry, but he was Captain America, he had to always be in control of the situation. He looked at the ceiling, and said “Jarvis! Where’s Tony?” 

“I am not aware of Sir’s current location.” 

Steve started to pace. A lot could happen in a day. Without noticing Steve had clenched his hands into fists. He was trying to stay calm, trying not to think about all the horrible things that could be happening to Tony, and how many enemies he had, and how without the suit Tony was a baseline human, and he had a weak heart and his ribs and lungs were messed up from the reactor. Natasha put a hand on his shoulder. 

“We’ll find him, don’t worry. ” 

“Don't tell me not to worry! I’m not worried! And if I was worried, it would be perfectly reasonable because Tony is missing!” Steve retorted and started pacing again. 

Sam pushed his bowl away. “Outside the city, we all got in the jet and he stayed behind,” said Falcon, and the others nodded their heads. 

“He told me he was going to give Britain a lift and be back soon” Steve said through gritted teeth. “We need to hunt down Britain. Either he took Tony, or he’s the last person to have seen him.” He knew that that guy was no good! And now Tony was _missing._

And at that moment Tony stepped into the room with a grin, saying “Well that should be easy Beloved, I’m right here.”

When Tony stepped through the door Steve let out a gasp of relief. He ran over and pulled him into a hug, and Tony went willingly, giving his back a few firm pats. Steve held him back by the shoulders and gave him a stern look. 

“Where were you? Why didn’t you pick up your phone?” he asked accusingly. 

Tony’s smile froze. “I was…out. With a ...friend.” 

And Steve looked him over, and noticed that his normally neat clothes were all wrinkled up, and his hair was fluffy instead of slicked back and no one had seen his since the previous day. Last time they had talked Tony he had been going to spend time with Britain for a reason he wouldn’t say. Steve’s mind finally put it all together. 

Tony was sleeping with Britain. 

Steve stiffened up and pulled away from Tony. "Now that we know you're fine, I'm going upstairs." 

He turned and went upstairs, ignoring Tony as he called out asking what was wrong. 

He took it all back, he was not ok with Tony dating someone else. If Tony was going to be happy with someone, it should have been him. Why hadn’t it been him? When he was younger he had assumed it was because he was scrawny and bruised up from back alley fights. Now people asked to take his photo and he could bench press a car, and he still couldn’t get the person he liked to look at him twice. 

There was a knock at his door. It was Tony. Of course it was Tony. 

“Steve, are you ok?” 

“Just peachy.” 

“You want to let me in?” 

“No.” 

Unfortunately, sometime during Steve’s quest to figure out how to get Tony to listen to him through manners and charm, Tony had retaliated and figured out how to get to Steve's weak points in return. 

“Steve, you’re hurting me by locking me out.” 

Tony was too good at this. Steve got up and unlocked the door, returning to sit on his bed. Tony pushed open the door and entered the room cautiously, eyeing his friend. He took a seat on the bed next to Steve, who was avidly avoiding making eye contact to stare at the floor. 

“Natasha says you were really worried that I was missing.” 

“Natasha says a lot of things.” Stupid Natasha. He didn’t know why he ever told her about liking Tony. 

Tony frowned at him. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing. I knew it would make you upset, so I tried to do it without rubbing it in your face. I got back later than I expected.” 

“I don’t care what you do in your free time. It’s your life.” Steve forced out, the lie feeling bitter on his tongue. Tony called him out on it. 

“See, you say that, then when I got back you ran up here. Like actually ran. I don’t understand what’s going on.” He said with frustration. Steve didn’t bother to respond to that. Instead he asked, “Why him, of all people? What does he have that I don’t?” 

“Brian? Nothing. Are you jealous of what we were doing?” 

Steve felt his face heat up. Tony leaned closer. “I didn’t think it’d be the kind of thing you would like.” 

Steve hesitantly took Tony’s hand. “I’m more open to things than people think. The most important part is having the right partner.” 

Tony looked down at their hands then back up. “If you’re interested, I could do the same for you. Show you the ropes.” 

“I think I’d like that.” 

Steve leaned forward, bridging the rest of the distance, and kissed him. 

Tony jerked back. “What? What was that?” 

“I thought you were-” 

“I built him rocket boots! I spent the night putting on the finishing touches then showing him how to use them, you thought-” 

“What else was I supposed to think?” Steve said desperately. 

They stared at each other in silence, and Tony seemed to be reevaluating his whole life. 

“We can’t do this. You’re not leaving the country in a week, if I mess this up it will ruin the whole team. What we have now is good, it’s enough.” 

“Since when have you ever settled for ‘good’? When you build your suits, do you stop when you reach ok? When you built this tower, did you design it to be alright? Is Jarvis decent? Is the gear you built for the team mediocre?” 

“No-” 

“No! You’ve never settled for less in your life. Don’t start now. Please, Tony.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

Steve stared at him in shock, then lunged forward and kissed him again. This time Tony responded eagerly. The door opened behind him then immediately shut. In the hall Steve could hear Natasha telling everyone that they had managed to work it out. She was going to tease him for this later, but right now, with Tony smiling and kissing him, he couldn't bring himself to care. 

. 

. 

. 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, happy ending! I ended up finishing in less chapters than I expected, but I'm glad I finished before Endgame. Thanks for reading my story, let me know if you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Should update at least once a week, probably more. Please let me know if there's any tags you think I should add or remove.


End file.
